CULTURAL FAMILY QUILT SQUARES

1. CULTURAL FAMILY QUILT SQUARES By Julie Crabtree Presented by the Panther Cubs Preschool

2. What is Culture • Culture can be found in many of the different activities your family participates in. • Writing- such as stories, tales, and beliefs that have been written down, or told, and passed from generation to generation, ect. • Religion- the beliefs you hold, the way you celebrate things, ect. • Music- types of songs that are always played at occasions, musical talent or instruments that are passed down, songs that hold special meanings, ect. • Clothes- certain types of dress that happens for special occasions, daily wear that means something to you, ceremonial attire, et. • Cooking- foods that come from another country, recipes that have passed down from generations, ways you cook, tools you use, ect.

3. Planning Stage Family Cultural Quilt Square I created a newsletter describing what culture can mean and an explanation of the project. Each family was encouraged to talk about what their culture is. They were encouraged to include their whole family, making it a meaningful family project. Families worked together to make meaningful quilt squares that represented the diverse cultures through-out individual families as well as though-out the classroom.

4. THE PROCESS • FAMILY CULTURAL QUILT SQUARE: • I read several books to the children including People by Peter Spier and My Culture by Bobbie Kalman. • We learned a song called We all Sing in the Same Voice by J Philip Miller and Sheppard M. Greene. • The children were encouraged to share things they felt were important in their culture. • I created my own quilt square and shared it with the children and the parents. • Daily, I checked in with the parents regarding their progress and answered any questions that arose.

5. THE EVENT There were 3 families who got very involved in this project

6. THE EVENT There were 2 dads who helped their child share their quilt square

7. We came all the way from Illinois There were 2 children who had grandparents come to help them share their quilt square

8. THE EVENT They were quite happy to share their quilt square and knew what each thing meant to their family There were 3 children whose parents were unable to come help their child share their quilt square

9. Finished Squares • Some important things to our families: • Volunteer Work • Food • Military • Copper Mining • Religion • Holiday Celebration • Family • Some of the cultures visited: • Irish • Mexican • Swedish • Amish • German

10. Reflection Overall, this project was a success. The parents were very receptive to doing this project. There was only one family who told me they had “no culture”. I used this opportunity to use guidance to help the father take useful information home to his family. This family took longer than the rest to complete and return the project, but thankfully they did do it! I really enjoyed hearing what each of the different families found important in their unique cultures. I learned some really interesting things about each of the families! The families also enjoyed this project. Their most common response was “how much fun they had working with their children on this”. I think this would be a great project to do at the very beginning of the year to help each family introduce themselves. All 14 of the children participated in this project. Out of the 14 children, 11 of their families came to class to help share their culture with us. Each family had their own unique way to present the information. The children absolutely loved having someone from their family come to school with them!

11. References Miller, D.F. (2013). Positive child guidance (seventh edition). California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. CLIPCO. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.cusdclipco.org/files/documents/2011to2012/newsletters/ Feb2012/